Coast Guard responds to sinking of boat near Cold Bay

KODIAK (AP) -- Four fishermen escaped from their sinking boat Friday morning about 20 miles southwest of Cold Bay, the Coast Guard reports.

The men were identified as Aaron Christiansen of King Cove, Greg Elwood of Everett, Wash., Dave Rodriguez of Washington state, and Alex Nagy of Green Bay, Wis.

The fishermen aboard the Kristen boarded a life raft after making a mayday call about 7:45 a.m., and the vessel apparently sank shortly afterward. The 58-foot vessel was home-ported in Homer.

The four were rescued by the Mr. Bill, a local fishing boat, and were taken back to King Cove, according to Marshalena Delaney of the Coast Guard.

The men told investigators the boat was taking on water in the engine room and the flooding got ahead of them.

The vessel had about three thousand gallons of diesel fuel aboard when it went down. The pilot of a C-130 sent to the scene said he saw some sheening and a debris field, mostly marker buoys, where the boat went down, Delaney said.

The boat had passed a volunteer safety inspection in Kenai in February.